229 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
of the tail barred brown and white, the brown disappearing on 
the outside feathers. The lesser wing coverts, primary coverts, 
and wing quills dark brown; the secondaries and later 
primaries tipped with white. Foreneck and upper breast 
light ashy with darker brown streaks ; rest of lower parts 
white with a few black markings on the lower tail coverts. 
Summer : The upper plumage is more distinctly variegated 
dusky brown and white ; the head and neck are streaked with 
white ; the breast with distinct dark spots. 
Bill greenish at the base, blackish at the tip; iris deep 
brown ; legs yellowish-olive. 
Length 8°5; wing 4°8; tail 2; tarsus 1°5; bill from gape 
1-3. 
Distribution.— Abundant all over the low-country ; common 
throughout the Indian Empire; breeds in Europe and 
Northern Asia, wintering from Africa eastwards to Southern 
Asia and Australia. 
Habits —The species is found in swarms all over the paddy 
fields and marshes of the low-country from September to 
April. It arrives earlier than the Snipe and leaves a little 
later, collecting in large flocks before departure. It is also 
fairly common on salt marshes, tidal flats, and the low shores 
round lagoons. This and the next species but one, 7.e., 7. 
stagnatilis, are the birds usually known to Snipe shooters as 
Snippets. 
Toranus ocuropus (Blanford, Vol. IV., p. 262 ; 
Legge, p. 862). 
The Green Sandpiper. 
Description.—Winter : Upper surface brown with a tinge 
of olive ; paler on head and neck ; the feathers of the scapu- 
lars, wing coverts, and tertiaries edged with alternating pale 
and dark spots. The outer wing coverts, the primaries, and 
secondaries unrelieved dark brown ; tail white barred with 
brownish-black, the bars disappearing towards the outside 
feathers ; upper tail coverts white. There is an indistinct 
white streak on the eyebrow ; the chin and throat are whitish ; 
the sides of the head and of the neck with the upper breast 
